"Just that anti-stall again" – Alfa Romeo working on solutions for Guanyu Zhou's problems at race starts
Alfa Romeo is hoping to rectify the issues faced by Guanyu Zhou in the previous two races while heading into the Australian Grand Prix this weekend. Zhou experienced too much wheel spin on race starts in both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, leading to lost positions and a tougher race.
The Swiss outfits’ head of trackside engineering, Xevi Pujolar, believes the issue was mainly due to Zhou’s lack of “feel” of the right rev limits and believes they can rectify the issues for the Australian GP. Speaking to GPFans ahead of the weekend, Pujolar said:
“It was just that anti-stall again so it is something that we will have a solution for at the next race. It is something that we need to go through with Zhou [but] there was nothing wrong with the car. He has got the feeling that the revs were still okay but that is not okay because they were too low. We need to see what we can do to mitigate that issue in the future because now it has happened twice.”
In the first round in Bahrain, Zhou’s more experienced teammate Valtteri Bottas also experienced a poor start. The following week in Jeddah, however, Bottas found a solution to his issues and managed a top-6 finish.
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Meanwhile, Zhou’s poor start at Jeddah dropped him out of the points, while a stop-and-go penalty and a botched pit-stop undid most of his recovery efforts. After the race, the Chinese driver was downbeat despite showing a promising race pace.
Without Guanyu Zhou’s poor start in Saudi Arabia, according to Pujolar, Alfa Romeo could have potentially brought home both cars in the points. He added, saying:
“I think the performance is okay, but it was not the main issue. Valtteri was able to keep position, so we were there, and with Zhou, the start was not great, but it was okay.”
Guanyu Zhou looking to “prove” he deserves F1 seat at the 2022 Australian GP
Guanyu Zhou says he is looking forward to the 2022 Australian GP this weekend, where he hopes to prove that he deserves to be in F1.
The Chinese driver reportedly didn’t take a break following the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix two weeks ago and has been training in the simulator at the team’s factory in Switzerland. Speaking to China Daily ahead of the Australian GP weekend, he said:
“I expect the next race a lot. I did not take any break. Instead, I went to the factory to train in the simulator immediately… Only results speak in a competition. I will use time and efforts to prove that I deserve my spot in F1.”
A long-time Renault Academy driver, Guanyu Zhou has been an F1 hopeful since 2019. After finishing P3 at the F2 championship last season, he finally made his F1 debut with Alfa Romeo earlier this year.
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Many have criticized Alfa Romeo, however, for their decision to choose Zhou over their previous driver Antonio Giovinazzi, with the former being labeled as a pay-driver. Despite the criticism, Zhou believes he deserves to be in the sport just as much as any other driver and hopes to make a mark.